It’s been a busy week at G8Nation with 9 big stories. We’re happy to say that G8Nation broke some big Pontiac G8 news this week that quickly spread to the top car news sites. It’s been a while, but the Pontiac G8 ST made its way back into the news in a big way thanks to G8Nation. Even though we’ve all been expecting the results to the Tame the Name sweepstakes, Pontiac is still trying to decide whether or not it would be wise to consider the classic Chevy El Camino nameplate for the Pontiac G8 Ute. Not quite as many choices as the number of names being considered, G8Nation informed the Pontiac G8 community that the Pontiac engineers and marketing teams are considering adding V6 engine option for the G8 ST.

Since Pontiac parted ways with NASCAR a few years ago, there is no chance we’ll ever see a Pontiac G8 in the Sprint Cup, however, the next best thing is watching Dale Jr. drive a Holden Commodore in Australia this December.

GM reported their June sales this week and to date they have sold 6,270 Pontiac G8s this year, with 1,536 Pontiac G8s being sold in June, down from Pontiac G8 sales in May. We expected a slightly higher number considering the Pontiac G8 was the most reviewed car in the Month of May. However, as Clint Williams of the Washington Times pointed out in his Pontiac G8 GT review, gas prices are rising sharply. It was a rough month for GM with their stock price dipping below $10.00 a share for the first time since 1954 and now considering eliminating employee pricing on the 2009 Pontiac G8.

For the second week in a row, G8Nation broke some more news regarding the 2009 Pontiac G8 colors. Contrary to previous reports, Pontiac is considering letting Magnetic Gray Metallic (18U) remain for the entire 2009 model year.

In the spirit of America’s favorite holiday, Edmunds InsideLine asked readers to vote for the most American car in their long term fleet. Of course, despite its Aussie roots, the Pontiac G8 GT is one of the All-American candidates.

Keep sending us your Pontiac G8 news and questions.

• Pontiac G8 GT Reviewed by Washington Times
• Edmunds - Is the Pontiac G8 the Most American Car?
• 2008 Pontiac G8 Most Reviewed Car in May
• No GM Employee Pricing on 2009 Pontiac G8?
• V6 & V8 Engine Choices For Pontiac G8 ST
• Magnetic Gray Metallic (18U) May Stay For All of 2009
• Pontiac G8 Sales - 1,536 Pontiac G8s Sold in June 2008
• Pontiac El Camino Still Possibility for G8 ST
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Race Holden Commodore in Australia

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Since Pontiac parted ways with NASCAR a few years ago, it doesn’t look like we’ll have a chance to see a Pontiac G8 run in the Sprint Cup any time soon. How about the next best thing….Dale Earnhardt Junior racing a Holden Commodore in December 2008.

According to Wheels Mag, Dale Jr. will make his Australian racing debut at Sydney’s Oran Park behind the wheel of a Holden Commodore V8 in the junior feeder category in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series.

Scott Loadsman, Fujitsu V8 Series team boss, confirmed the purchase of another car for his team. The team just purchased a Holden Commodore, nicknamed ‘Gidget’ from Paul Morris Motorsport. Series leader, Steve Owen will drive ‘Gidget’ and will hand over the keys to his previous car to Dale Jr. Coincidentally, the Holden Commodore that Jr will be driving is nicknamed ‘Earnhardt’.

“I know that Dale Earnhardt Jr. wanted to drive in the last race and Paul Morris is organizing for him to come out,” said Loadsman. “That’s confirmed. “We’ve already got the car from Morris, we got the sister car to ‘Earnhardt’… we bought ‘Gidget’. So he’s going to drive in the last race out there so he’ll probably drive that [Earnhardt] car.”

Dale Jr. first visited Australia at the 2007 V8 Grand Finale at Phillip Island during his end-of-season holiday as a guest of former V8 champ Marcos Ambrose. Morris gave Earnhardt a test in a V8 Holden Commodore car at his facility on the Gold Coast, and Earnhardt has since remained in contact with the V8 driver. With the final NASCAR Sprint Cup race being held on November 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Earnhardt will be able to fly to Australia in time for Oran Park on December 4- 7.

[Source: Wheels Mag]

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The citizens of “G8 Nation” have spoken and GM listened. Consider this our second source confirming that the most hated featured of the 2008 G8 is being removed for 2009. The 2009 G8 will be produced without the Atari style battery and oil gauges above the center stack as we previously reported.

Edward Loh of MotorTrend recently had lunch with GM’s Global Rear Wheel Chief Engineer for North America (that’s GMGRWCENA for short), Al Oppenheiser. The majority of their conversation was about the G8 and Openheiser offered up some info about the digital battery meter and oil gauge.

Oppenheiser said, “We got a lot feedback from guys like you in the media and early buyers, and it just reaffirmed what we had thought after spending a lot of time with the car during development. The readouts don’t change much, there are no units on them, so why would you want to stare at them all the time?”

“It’ll be gone for 2009,” Oppenheiser confirmed.

So with the gauges out, what will the G8 have atop the center stack? One source tells us that the 09 G8s are simply replacing the now vacant spot with storage space. Oppenhiser says that the decisions has not yet been made and the he is pushing to have the analog gauges from the Holden Commodore HSV put in place.

We can’t imagine a change like this to not yet be confirmed since the 2009 G8s are already in production.

Oppenheiser also mentioned that GM was getting grief for not having GPS in the G8 but he didn’t say whether that was a viable possibility so soon.

[Source: MotorTrend]

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The Australian government wants to add to their fleet of 355 “green” Toyotas and Hondas and has announced that desire to Holden.  Why funnel money out of the Australian economy when they can use Holden and try and save some jobs down under.

NSW Premier Morris Iemma has guaranteed Holden that his government will be first in line when Holden offers a battery-assisted Commodore in 2010.  “If Holden was to build a hybrid Commodore, as has been suggested, then I have assured the local car maker we would be lining up to be one of their first customers,” Mr Iemma said in a statement.

[Source: The Australian]

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The buzz around OZ this morning is that Holden is taking significant steps to go green. The first step in going green is to reintroduce a 4 cylinder engine that will not doubt bring flashbacks back to those who remember the sluggish flight of the 1984 Holden Commodore. However, unlike the 4 of 1984, the possible upcoming will likely have a turbocharger that should allow the bird to crank out more power than the current 3.6 liter V6.

Nick Reilly, General Motors Group VP stated that in addition to a smaller power plant, other environmentally friendly technologies are also being researched including diesel, CNG (natural gas) and hybrid, and quickly confirmed that a hybrid Commodore would be on sale sometime around 2010.

Since the Holden Commodore is build on the Zeta platform shared by it’s American brother, the Pontiac G8, any powertrain that is made for the Commodore, will easily slide into the G8 engine bay. When Holden does finally go green, there is a strong possibility that the Pontiac G8 will go green as well in the form of a Hybrid Pontiac G8 (ahem…we told ya so) or a turbocharged 4-banger. Buy your Pontiac G8 this decade folks!

[Source: Drive.com.au]

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So the 2008 Pontiac G8 GT with 361 hp isn’t enough for ya huh? You’ve decided to wait and “settle” for the 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP with its 400+ hp, but you still have a hankering for another 150+ ponies under the hood. Well wait no longer. The smart, power hungry folks at APS engineering have done it again. They have spec’d a 2008 G8 GT and its Aussies sibling, the Holden Commodore with 557 hp!

All of this extra power is being produced by their Stealth Intercooled turbocharger setup with two water-cooled turbos. The APS crew is stating that the entire setup can be installed as a “simple bolt-on”. As tempting as it would be to have 557 hp and 583 lb/ft, pricing has not yet been announced, pricing and availability details have not yet been announced.

Check out the details of the twin turbo 557 hp Pontiac G8 GT & Holden Commodore at the ASP web site.

[Source: APS Engineering]

[Photos: APS Engineering]

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This time, a Pontiac G8 crash test was conducted with intention and without a Pontiac engineer in the car. For those of you who have an interest in getting your hands on the upcoming G8 (name goes here) ST, when they come to the US, we have good news. In a recent crash test comparison in Australia, the Holden Commodore Ute walked away with a perfect 5 star rating; beating out the Ford Ranger-based Mazda BT50 and the Indian Mahindra pickup.

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Just last month, Pontiac declared that the 2008 G8 would start at $27,595 for the V6 sedan and $29,995 for the G8 GT.  Well now, according to Pontiac, a fully-loaded 2008 G8 GT can be yours for just $32,895. 

For an additional $2,900 over the GT base price, you get the highest combination of trim level, packages and individual options could add up. It also includes a set of 18-inch all-season tires that cost $150. Rumor has it that some of the options included are dual zone climate control, an 11 speaker Blaupunkt stereo, sunroof, heated and power seats, and of course OnStar.

We have not seen any mention of GPS anywhere.  We do know that its available on the Holden Commodore, but there may be a conflict as OnStar now offers voice, turn-by-turn directions.

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A major milestone towards the destination of the Pontiac G8 in American showrooms destination was achieved today as Holden held a ceremony commemorate the production of the first engineering prototypes. Full production is scheduled to kick off at Holden Vehicle Operations’ Elizabeth plant in Q4 2008 and will produce approximately 620 cars max per day. We assume that 620 will be split between the G8 and its blood brother, the Holden Commodore.  The G8s will likely be divvied internationally between the USA, UK, Middle East & Korea. The G8 should hit stateside some time in February 2008.

Holden’s full press release is below.

[Source: GM Holden]

Read the full story

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Feast your eyes on the Vauxhall VXR8; the strongest ruler of the UK since Winston Churchill.  The VXR8 is loosely based on a blatantly obvious rebadge of the HSV Clubsport R8, the bigger and more muscular brother of the Holden Commodore.

Packing a punch of 420 hp and 400 lbs of torque, the VXR8 launches itself from 0-60 mph in less than 5 seconds and will stop it from the same speed in less than 120 ft thanks to its monstrous disc brakes.  The striated muscle under the skin just waiting to be used is none other GM’s 6.0L LS2 V8 mated to a six speed manual. A six speed auto is also available, but I think I’ll pass.

Vauxhall had no intention of making the VXR8 a sleeper and the 20″ wheels and a bodykit just as muscular as the LS2. The front and rear clips on the VXR8 visually scream with aggression.

Let’s hope the G8 GXP uses its UK brother as a benchmark for sibling rivalry.

[Source: Vauxhall]
Read the full story

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